2011 saw Firefox race ahead with a new version with lots of improvements—speed being chief among them—and lots more features and add-ons to fully customize your web browsing. here are our most popular Firefox extensions and posts from the past year.

Firefox 7 is set to be released today, and with a big focus on performance, we thought it time for another round of browser speed test. We pitted the four most popular Windows browsers against each other in a battle of startup times, tab-loading times, JavaScript powers, and memory usage. More »

Mozilla's user experience team is doing their nit-pick-y work on Firefox 5 in public—yes, before Firefox 4 is actually shipped. Check out what they're thinking of changing up, including webapp improvements, session restore, menu fixing, and other small but nice improvements. More »

We use a lot of great webapps, but it takes a few clicks to perform even a simple task, like adding an event to your calendar. Here's how to collapse those step-by-step clicks into single commands for nearly any web application. More »

What's so bad about ad tracking on the web, a.k.a. behavioral targeting? Nothing, if you don't mind being a living stereotype. No, seriously—that's what much of the fuss over "Do Not Track" browser options and opt-out options is about. More »

We've always known that installing a lot of add-ons can slow down your browser, but Mozilla's now telling us just how much. Here's a look at, generally, how much an add-on will slow you down, and some of the worst offenders. More »

If your browser's default start page is feeling a little ugly and boring, DeviantART user flatmo1 has created a great-looking start page inspired by Windows 8's tiled interface, ready to get you to your favorite sites with just a click. More »

Now that Firefox is on a rapid release cycle, we're getting a new version of Firefox every three months-and each time, it becomes more tricked out than ever with new customization options, shortcuts, and convenient features hidden away in its menus. More »

Android: If you don't want to use Google Voice to manage your SMS messages on the desktop, DeskSMS will let you manage them from Gmail, GTalk, a speedy web interface, and even a Chrome extension—no number porting required. More »

Firefox 4 on Windows: One of the longest-running complaints among the anti-Firefox crowd is that it's slow. One Mozilla developer has set out to fix part of this problem by making Firefox start up twice as fast in Windows with a simple add-on. More »

Firefox has a lot going for it, but its interface feels a little dated next to sleek browsers like Chrome. Here's how to make Firefox look and feel more like Google Chrome without giving up your favorite aspects of Firefox. More »

Dear Lifehacker, I'm a big Chrome user and saw that there's yet another "channel" (Canary) out for us Mac users to try. I've always been a little bit unsure about which one of these I should be running. More »

If you're sick of manually opening links in private browsing mode, Firefox and Chrome extensions will get you in with some quick shortcuts. More »

And there you have it. It was a big year for Firefox, what with the release of a big new version, multiple chanenels, a rapid release system, and tons more great extensions that make your life easier. If you have a favorite Firefox extension or how-to that didn't make the list, share it with us in the comments below. And, for more Firefox goodness, check out our best Firefox posts of 2010 and 2009, too.